History
The Story of Pondicherry
Few towns in India carry as many layers as Pondicherry. Roman traders, Chola kings, Portuguese, Dutch, British, and French have all left their mark on a stretch of coastline that refused to be ordinary.
The Full Story
Before the French
Long before any European flag flew here, this coast was already cosmopolitan. Romans anchored offshore. Tamil poets…
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The Europeans Arrive
Five European powers tried to establish themselves on the Coromandel Coast. Only one succeeded in building something…
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Dupleix's Gamble
In 1742 a new governor arrived in Pondicherry with an audacious idea: that France could rule the Deccan not through…
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The Fallen City
In 1761 the British captured Pondicherry and systematically demolished it. What the French recovered eight years later…
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1954: The Handover
India became independent in 1947. Pondicherry did not. For seven more years, the tricolour flew over the French Quarter…
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Two Independence Days
Ask why Pondicherry has two Independence Days and the honest answer is that it has three, tangled up with an election…
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Les anciens combattants
On Goubert Avenue there is a war memorial that France kept after 1954. It is the one piece of ground on the promenade…
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Can Anyone from Pondy Become French?
The short answer is: not in the way it once was possible. But the way it was once possible is one of the strangest legal…
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French Institutions
Lycée Français International
In autumn 1826 the same governor who opened the Pensionnat de Jeunes Filles also founded a college for boys. Nearly two…
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Consulat Général de France
France is one of the few countries that maintains a Consulate General in a city of Pondicherry's size. The reason is…
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EFEO Pondicherry Centre
Founded in Saigon in 1900 to study the civilisations of Asia, the EFEO relocated its scholars and collections to…
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Petit Séminaire
Started to train clergy in the last decade of the eighteenth century, it has been teaching boys without interruption…
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Alliance Française de Pondichéry
The Alliance Française operates in over a hundred countries. The Pondicherry branch is unusual: it works in a city where…
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Pensionnat de Jeunes Filles
The first structured institution of girls' education in French India. It was started by missionaries, taken over by the…
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The Cluny Schools
Anne-Marie Javouhey founded her congregation in 1807 to educate girls that no one else was educating. Her sisters…
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Collège Calvé
Calvé Soupraya Chettiar used his own money in 1875 to open a school for Hindu and Muslim children who had nowhere else…
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Foyer du Soldat
Thousands of Tamil men from Pondicherry served in the French army across four wars and three continents. When they came…
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Lives & Legacies
The governors, soldiers, scholars, and saints who shaped the town.
Joseph François Dupleix
1697–1763
Governor-General of French India
Ananda Ranga Pillai
1709–1761
Chief Interpreter to Dupleix, Diarist
Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais
1699–1753
French Naval Commander
Chanda Sahib
died 1752
Nawab of the Carnatic, French Ally
Charles de Bussy
1718–1785
French Military Commander in the Deccan
Thomas Arthur, Comte de Lally
1702–1766
Last French Commander of Pondicherry
Pierre André de Suffren
1729–1788
Vice-Admiral, French Navy
Robert Clive
1725–1774
British Military Commander; 1st Baron Clive
Stringer Lawrence
1697–1775
Father of the Indian Army
Law de Lauriston
1719–1797
French Military Officer
Hyder Ali
c. 1720–1782
De facto Ruler of Mysore
Tipu Sultan
1751–1799
Sultan of Mysore
Pierre Loti
1850–1923
French Novelist and Naval Officer
Romain Rolland
1866–1944
French Novelist; Nobel Prize 1915
François Gaudart
1844–1923
First Mayor of Karikal; Industrialist
Édouard Goubert
1894–1974
Mayor of Pondicherry; Last Pro-French Political Boss
Charles François Baron
1900–1980
Last Governor of French India
Sri Aurobindo
1872–1950
Philosopher, Yogi, Nationalist
Subramania Bharati
1882–1921
Tamil Poet; Nationalist
V. Subbiah
1911–1993
Trade Union Leader; Pro-Merger Activist
François Martin
1634–1706
Founder of Pondicherry; Director-General of French India
Mirra Alfassa
1878–1973
Co-founder of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram; Founder of Auroville; 'The Mother'
Guillaume Le Gentil
1725–c.1792
French Astronomer; Member, Académie des Sciences
Eyre Coote
1726–1783
British Commander; Captor of Pondicherry
Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah
1717–1795
Nawab of the Carnatic
Victor Simonel
1896–1917
Officer Cadet, 55th Infantry Regiment; Died for France
Mirza Rashid Ali Baig
1905–1979
Inaugural Consul-General of India in French India
Marie Cuperly
Dates unknown, fl. 1650s–after 1706
Wife of François Martin, founder of Pondicherry
Jeanne Dupleix
c.1706–1756
Political adviser and intermediary to Governor-General Dupleix
Claude Martin
1735–1800
Soldier, collector, and founder of the La Martinière schools
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769–1821
Emperor of the French; cause of Pondicherry's fourth British occupation
Charles de Gaulle
1890–1970
President of France; ratified French India's transfer to India in 1962
Kewal Singh
1915–1991
Consul-General of India, then first Chief Commissioner of Pondicherry